After seeing a lot about proactiv+ on social media and hearing reviews on how effective it was at achieving flawless skin, I decided to purchase one of their tester kits to find out for myself what all the hype was about.

For those of you who don’t know, I have a history of really bad acne which I treated with Roaccutane back in 2012 (read more about it here) which improved my skin drastically. Despite this my skin occasionally has a rather rashy appearance due to clusters very tiny spots and I’m still prone to the odd breakout every now and then , especially during exam season and the summer months.

As their 30 day complete facial Kit was available for £30, I thought I’d give them a go and see if they helped give my skin a smoother appearance and improve my complexion. Plus it came with a free electronic cleansing brush – so why not eh?

Now onto the review…

The complete facial kit consisted of the following products:

1) Exfoliating face wash

Now I personally was not a fan of this , purely due to its watery consistency, it literally felt like is was doing nothing on my face. It contains Salicylic acid so I’m sure it had it’s benefits but I just the found the texture off putting and eventually switched to use the Garnier pure active anti-blemish face wash as an alternative. I can acknowledge that it’s meant to be a ‘gentle’ exfoliant, but personally it wasn’t for me!

My Rating: 2.5/5

2) Toner

As the sample provided was only 59 ml this didn’t last me full 30 days, so I didn’t use it for that long but I definitely did like it. It made my skin feel super clean and fresh and was very good at removing any remaining dirt from my face, and being oil free makes it suitable for anyone with oily skin!

My Rating: 3/5

3) Pore targeting treatment and Complexion perfecting hydrator

I was actually quite with happy these two and would consider them the most effective products in the kit. Again I wasn’t the biggest fan when it came to the consistency, but when given a good shake prior to use it was fine. I would use them after washing my face and using the toner twice a day , and did find that they contributed to reducing the appearance of any spots. I’d say they did help me achieve slightly smoother skin, and definitely seemed to work best overnight.

My Rating: 4/5

4) Skin Purifying mask

This mask felt nice upon application to my face and did leave it feeling smoother after use. However on the Proactiv website, the product is described to ‘clear existing blemishes and prevent new breakouts from forming’. Prevent new breakouts..maybe! I did use the kit during exam season which when I’m most prone to breakouts and none occurred. Clear existing blemishes…not at all for me I’m afraid

My Rating: 3/5

5) Mark Fading pads

I didn’t find these to make a difference at all. But marks on my face are quite dark, so it may be that these are more effective for those with fairer complexions…

My Rating: 1/5

6) Deep Cleansing Brush

In all honesty I found this a bit rubbish…don’t get me wrong it did an OK job but I found both speed setting to be rather slow. In my opinion , using my Champney’s facial brush manually is more effective than this brush, but considering it came free I guess I can’t really complain all that much. However this is coming form someone who has quite tough skin, and those of you with sensitive skin might find it works really well for you.

My Rating: 3/5

Overall I’d rate the products as a whole as OK. If your considering their products I would recommend the Pore targeting treatment and complexion perfecting hydrator (and possible the toner as well) as I’ve found they’ve helped to suppress breakouts and give my skin a smoother appearance. The only think currently holding me back from repurchasing them is the fact that they’re about £30 each, and for that price I’d expect them to have performed slightly better than they did!

However it’s also worth bearing in mind that I don’t have moderate to severe acne and that might be why I didn’t experience the most significant change in my skin. Who knows… maybe if my skin was much worse, I might have found the products more effective…